080312b rel faith bowers

As a follower of Jesus, I get upset when people who claim the same connection do things that make it seem like they havenít got a clue what Jesus was about.

The most recent example was the pastor who refused to marry a black couple in his church. Did he read the gospels? Didnít he notice Jesus breaking boundaries and stepping across all kinds of rules about who mattered and who didnít? Thatís the Jesus Iím excited about, the one who disregarded the walls people had built.

Itís embarrassing to me as a member of clergy when I see my colleagues in trouble for things they shouldnít have done. They make me wince. I suppose this is not unique to my profession; the same thing happens with doctors, teachers, therapists, etc. People who are supposed to care sometimes do harm.

I spent some vacation time in Europe last month. There are reminders everywhere of violent times in the past, when Protestants and Catholics were killing each other and everyone mistreated the Jews. Those leading the violence were all very certain that they were right. Eventually the Protestants and Catholics gave it up, though Iím not sure how much of the cause was changed hearts and how much was just that after huge amounts of bloodshed, they faced the reality that they couldnít have it all. Even today, some people seem to have a gut feeling that their religion should dominate. They would try coercion again, if they could.

It is hard for us to face the truth that no one is too good to do a bad thing. Everyone likes to think of him- or herself as a good person. Many people never acknowledge the worst things they have done. Leave those uncomfortable realities in a dark corner somewhere.

In my tradition, this is understood to be a part of a sinful nature that we all have. We can change if we are willing to repent and open ourselves to Godís grace.

Of course, people who are abusive should be prevented from any more opportunities to do harm. I believe leaders should be held to high standards. We can never assume that anyone is beyond corruption, no matter how many good things they have done.

This is a very different view of human beings than the view our culture seems to promote: that there are ďgoodĒ people and ďbadĒ people. We are all capable of doing both good and evil. Perhaps we could make more sense out of stories like that of Joe Paterno, if we understood human beings this way.

I heard a story about someone who said to a pastor that he didnít want to come to church because there were too many hypocrites there. The pastor replied, ďThereís always room for one more.Ē

Rev. Catherine Bowers is a pastor at Morrisville United Methodist Church. From a Faith Perspective is a weekly column by members of Lower Bucks faith communities.

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